Week 6 Of The NFL Looms - Charger Preseason Over

I frequent a few Charger forums and after the week 1 loss to the Chiefs, I posted a sentiment that I have expressed here on my blog...and I am going to simply cut/paste one response here and then elaborate:

As much as the national media likes to emphasize that every game in the NFL is important, it has been demonstrated time and time again where a team no longer needs to start out 4-0 or 5-0 to have a shot at the playoffs.

The first 5, 6 games, imo, are still preseason games.  Sure, a team doesn't want to start out 0-5 or 0-6, but both the Chargers, who started 2-3 last year and the Titans, who started 0-6, turned their seasons around...sure Tennessee didn't make the playoffs but were knocking on the door at the end of the season.

I was totally prepared for a Chiefs victory and won't be surprised if the Chargers drop 2 out of 3 of their next road games against, what seem, inferior competition.  Arizona might be their toughest home opponent, but for me, the season really doesn't start to count for the Chargers until the Patriots game and that's when I will start to gauge how competent this team is.

When I originally posted that, the majority of the responses I got was pretty sour...everyone knows that every game in the NFL is important, that's what ESPN says and that means its true and besides, what if the Chargers don't make the playoffs by one or two games, they are going to look back and say what could have been if they could have simply beaten these easy road teams early in the season...

My rationale doesn't fit into what the sports hypesters want us to believe, but I still stand by my statement and yes, if a team doesn't make the playoffs by a game or two it may reflect as to what could have been, but the NFL has changed so much over the past 10-15 years and the parity is so wide ranging that we have seen teams go 6 and 0 and 0 and 6 and either miss the playoffs or almost make the playoffs.  It was just 2 years ago when the Broncos were leading the AFC by 4 games with 4 games to play and lost the division.  Teams can evolve or devolve as the season goes on and injuries can often doom a team even after a promising start.  Even the San Francisco 49'ers know what I am talking about...they are 0-5 right now and their owner has predicted that they will still win the NFC West ... and you know what?  I don't doubt it either.

I'm sure if the Chargers are capable of reeling off 11 straight wins before choking in the playoffs this year, but if they can get their special teams woes figured out and minimize the turnovers they will certainly be in good shape to make the playoffs (and choke) again this year.